A Hastings District Council spokesperson said events and organisations that recently or regularly applied for discretional funding were advised of “the very difficult financial circumstances facing the council”.
“While all applications are welcome and will be considered as usual, it was a signal to these groups that they may want to consider making all efforts to source funding from alternative sources, as well as applying to [the] council.”
Hawke’s Bay Digital Archives Trust chairman Peter Dunkerley said Napier City Council had given in the past, but otherwise the resource was funded by community sponsors.
He said without the funding that ends on June 30, 2024, the main issue lay with staffing costs.
“Getting funding for staff costs is at best difficult, and [in the] worst case very difficult,” Dunkerley said. “There may well be more funding coming, but only modest amounts because councils have been the major backbone support.”
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said Hastings District Council was a strong supporter of the work of Knowledge Bank.
“The council has a history of financially supporting Knowledge Bank (as it does other community organisations) through [the] council’s community grants fund.”
She said funding included $30,000 a year for three years ending June 30, 2024, alongside other smaller project-based grants.
“We welcome applications to the community grants scheme for the next financial year from community organisations, including from Knowledge Bank, for consideration alongside the Long Term Plan process.”
Hazlehurst also suggested Knowledge Bank put a charge on the access of the material to give it a sustainable footing.
Dunkerley said in the past they didn’t want to charge people for access. However, it was something that was being talked about.
The digital archive would fall back into a volunteer operation, as the funding enabled the group to have a paid manager based at Stoneycroft in Omāhu Rd in Hastings.
“We are doing a bit of a rescue job. This is the situation we have got, and we have to look at how can we best manage it.”
He said as long as no costs were incurred, they would continue to collect and preserve Hawke’s Bay’s history.
“It’s the history of Hawke’s Bay. It’s the people of Hawke’s Bay writing the history of Hawke’s Bay.”
The council said no decisions had been made, and organisations are welcome to make funding applications.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
